Southern Miss
27-13, 12-6
Georgia State
23-18, 9-9
Six Homers Leads No. 23 Southern Miss to Series Win over Georgia State Saturday 15-9
4/19/2025 5:23:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles (27-13 overall, 12-6 Sun Belt) hit a season-high six total round-trippers and used a seven-run eighth to pull away to win the weekend Sun Belt series.
Higdon, who did not have a home run entering the weekend, collected four in the series as his three home runs were the 12th time it had been done in school history and the first time since Christopher Sargent did it against UTSA on May 15, 2022.
With the score tied at 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth, Southern Miss put the game out of reach with its seven-run frame. Jake Cook gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good with an RBI single to center. Paetow then added a three-run homer, his second in the contest, before Drey Barrett belted a solo homer, his sixth, with Seth Smith completing the inning's scoring with a two-run double.
Over the first half of the game, though, Southern Miss had to play catch up. They trailed 3-0 after the first, 4-1 after the third and 5-3 after the top of the fifth when Paetow blasted his first homer of the game, a two-run shot, to even the score for the first time at 5-5. Paetow ended the game with five RBI and now is tied for the team lead in homers with 14.
Higdon collected a solo home run for the Golden Eagles first run in the second, added a two-run shot in the fourth and then another solo shot to account for his three homers to help the home team keep the game close during the early going.
A three-run first inning homer by Jessie Donohoe and a solo shot from Kaleb Freeman in the third gave kept the Panthers in front early.
After GSU (23-18, 9-9) plated a run in the sixth on a sacrifice bunt to take a one-run advantage, Southern Miss took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning. After Higdon's third home run tied the game at 6-6, Nick Monistere recorded a two-run single to give the Golden Eagles their first lead at 8-6.
That lead was short lived as Colin Hynek tied the score in the seventh with a two-run belt to center.
Landen Payne, the third of three Golden Eagle pitchers, registered the victory by allowing just one run on a hit with two strikeouts over the final two innings to go 1-0. GSU reliever Caleb White gave up five runs on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts over 2 1/3 frames to suffer the loss and fall to 5-4.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Tuesday when they entertain Tulane at home for the second time this season. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Payne, Landen (1-0)
L: White, Caleb (5-4)
Batting:
2B: Freeman, Kaleb 1
HR: Freeman, Kaleb 2 ; Hynek, Colin 1 ; Donohoe, Jesse 1
RBI: Freeman, Kaleb 2 ; Hynek, Colin 3 ; Donohoe, Jesse 3 ; Bailey, Carter 1
SH: Bailey, Carter 1 ; Beverley, John 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Maginnis, Michael 1 ; Freeman, Kaleb 4 ; Hynek, Colin 1 ; Maginnis, William 1 ; Donohoe, Jesse 1 ; Milford, Cooper 1
SB: Maginnis, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Long, Ty 1 ; Smith, Seth 1
HR: Paetow, Carson 2 ; Barrett, Drey 1 ; Higdon, Ben 3
RBI: Cook, Jake 1 ; Monistere, Nick 2 ; Paetow, Carson 5 ; Barrett, Drey 1 ; Higdon, Ben 4 ; Smith, Seth 2
SH: Pratt, Ozzie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cook, Jake 1 ; Monistere, Nick 1 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Paetow, Carson 2 ; Barrett, Drey 2 ; Long, Ty 1 ; Higdon, Ben 4 ; Stockman, Tucker 1 ; Smith, Seth 1 ; Pratt, Ozzie 1
HBP: Stockman, Tucker 1
